On the second day of the Christmas Octave, Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (10: 17-22) in which Jesus says to his apostles, ‘Beware of men; they will hand you over to Sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues; you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them…’. After reading the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St Stephen, whose feast day we celebrate today.

Fr Paul says Stephen, in fact is the very first martyr. He was one of the deacons appointed by the Apostles to organize the distribution of food to the poor. He performed many miracles and confounded the Jews in disputes. They then fabricated false charges against him and at his trial Stephen preached the risen Christ to them, so they stoned him to death.

Stephen prayed for his persecutors as he was dying. One of them, Saul of Tarsus, who was looking after the cloaks of the stone-throwers, was later converted and became the great missionary St Paul.

On this day, Fr Paul invites us to ask, ‘St Stephen…Pray for us!’